The request cites the recent controversy surrounding Ken Peterson, a former vocal studies professor who was terminated on March 2. Peterson was exonerated by a faculty review board and given a "Last Chance Agreement" contingent to his reinstatement.

"...In the case of Dr. Peterson, he was disciplined with a 15-day unpaid suspension and given unreasonable demands for his reinstatement," the request states.

The Senate request claims DSU failed to follow its own procedure and demonstrated a lack of due process. It also cites a pattern of unreasonable discipline that "seem part of a larger pattern of DSU punishing employees who file complaints against former Dean Mark Houser and who questioned the leadership of DSU President Richard ‘Biff’ Williams."

Four tenured professors have been terminated or placed on administrative leave in recent years. Of those, only one has returned to teach at DSU despite three of them having been exonerated by independent faculty review boards.

"It seems to me that what we are dealing with is an administration at DSU that has hidden behind university policies in order to punish dissent and undermine academic independence," according to the letter.

In a statement, DSU stated it is "supportive of any effort to improve its current polices and procedures when needed."

"The university is dedicated to engaging in best practices, and will work closely with our local and state leaders in this endeavor," DSU's statement reads.

The Senate request comes on the heels of an internal request of five faculty members who sent a "Call to Action" email to DSU faculty in hopes of garnering participation in an anonymous poll regarding the "hostile" climate on campus.

At the annual state of the university address on Thursday, Williams mentioned a Chronicle of Higher Education survey of faculty that revealed 74 percent of those who participated said they were satisfied and felt supported at the university.

For Peterson, he said he's "thrilled" the requests for an investigation have come to fruition.

"I believe it has been a long time coming because numerous requests have been made of this type of an audit," Peterson said. "What it means in regard to me personally is anyone's guess. Clearly these types of things take time and I'm not made of money and don't have an indefinite amount of time to wait for a resolution to the current conflict, but as I've been saying all along, I continue to be on the positive side of things. I'm surprised and amazed at the good that people do on behalf of someone else. In this case, that's me."

Peterson said he is being accused of engineering the audit.

"As if I have all of this power to manipulate the democratic Legislature," Peterson said. "I don't even know these people. The credit has to go to the Last Chance Agreement."